


1i ' 



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RECOP 

OF THE SEMI-CENTENNlJlt 
^nniYERSJIRy OF 



^T. niCHO&Tis SoCiETy 

OF TBE CITy OF 



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FEBi(ajii(y 25, 1555. 






Theo. L. De Vinne a Co. Printers, New-York, 




PRELIMINARY PROCEEDINGS. 




T a stated meeting of the Saint 
Nicholas Society, held at the Hotel 
Brunswick on the 4th day of Sep- 
tember, 1884, the following resolu- 
tions and recommendations, presented by the 
Board of Officers, were unanimously adopted: 

" Resolved, That the Board of Officers do hereby 
recommend and advise that the Society celebrate 
on the 28th of February, 1885, its Fiftieth An- 
niversary, and 

" Resolved, That the Board also recommend that 
the President appoint a Special Committee of 
nine, to be composed of three officers, three of the 
Committee of Stewards, and three other members; 
and that said Committee take the entire matter 
into consideration, and report in writing to the 
Society, at its next stated meeting, such plan or 



plans as the Committee may consider most proper 
to carry into effect the foregoing resolution." 

Pursuant to the foregoing resolutions, the Presi- 
dent appointed the following Committee : Messrs. 
Cornelius Vanderbilt, James M. McLean, and 
Charles A. Schermerhorn, of the Board of Officers ; 
Messrs. Stuyvesant Fish, E. Benedict Oakley, 
and James H. Beekman, of the Committee of 
Stewards; and Messrs. Alfred Van Santvoord, 
Edward N. Tailer, and John B. Pine. 

At a stated meeting of the Society, held at Del- 
monico's on the 4th day of December, 1884, the 
above-named Committee rendered a report in 
writing, recommending that the Semi- Centennial 
Anniversary of the Society be celebrated by a 
Dinner, followed by an address or addresses, at 
Delmonico's, on the 28th of February, 1885; 
which report and recommendation were unani- 
mously adopted, and the matter of arranging for 
the Anniversary was referred, with power, to the 
following Committee: 

James M. McLean, Chairman. 
Cornelius Vanderbilt, Alfred Van Santvoord, 
Stuyvesant Fish, Frederic J. de Peyster, 

James H. Beekman, Robert C. Livingston, 

E. Benedict Oakley, Fordham Morris, 
Edward N. Tailer, Austen G. Fox. 

Charles A. Schermerhorn, Treasurer. 
John B. Pine, Secretary. 




THE SEMI-CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY. 



I HE Semi- Centennial Anniversary of 
the Saint Nicholas Society of the City 
of New-York was celebrated on the 
evening of Saturday, the Twenty- 
eighth day of February, Eighteen Hundred and 
Eighty-five, at Delmonico's, Madison Square, 
New-York City. 




LIST OF PERSONS PRESENT. 



The following named gentlemen, seated at the 
President's table : 

Mr. Cornelius Vanderbilt, President of the 

Society. 
Mr. Benjamin H. Field, a former President of 

the Society. 
Mr. Augustus R. Macdonough, a Manager and 
a former President of the Society. 



Rev. Thomas E. Vermilye, D. D., Senior Chap- 
lain of the Society. 
Hon. Chauncey M. Depew, a Manager of the 

Society. 
Messrs. Alexander I. Cotheal, and William 

H. Johnson, two of the original members of 

the Society. 
Mr. John R. Planten, Consul- General of the 

Netherlands. 
Mr. J. W. Hunter, President of the Long Island 

St. Nicholas Society. 
Mr. John Reynders, President of the Hoboken 

St. Nicholas Society. 

Also the following named officers of the Society : 

Mr. Carlisle Norwood, Jr., First Vice-President. 

Mr. John C. Mills, Second Vice-President. 

Mr. James Wm. Beekman, Third Vice-President. 

Mr. Stuyvesant Fish, Fourth Vice-President. 

Mr. Edward Schell, Treasurer. 

Mr. Charles A. Schermerhorn, Secretary. 

Abram Du Bois, M. D., Physician. 

Messrs. James M. McLean, Robert G. Remsen, 
Edward F. de Lance y, Benjamin L. Swan, Jr., 
Nathaniel P. Bailey, and the Hon. Abraham 
R. Lawrence, of the Board of Managers. 

Messrs. Frederic J. de Peyster, James H. Beek- 
man, E. Benedict Oakley, Robert C. Living- 
ston, and FoRDHAM Morris, Stewards. 



Also the following named 

Mr. Alfred T. Ackert, 
Mr. Charles H. Adams, 
Mr. James M. Bailey, 
Mr. George V. N. Baldwin, 
Mr. Gerard Beekman, 
Mr. Henry W. Bibby, 
Mr. Wilbur A. Bloodgood, 
Mr. John Bogart, 
Mr. Richard W. Bogart, 
Mr. Charles B. Bostwick, 
Mr. Henry A. Bostwick, 
Mr. William A. Boyd, 
Mr. John I. Brooks, 
Mr. Sylvanus T. Cannon, 
Mr. Amory S. Carhart, 
Mr. Leonard J. Carpenter, 
Mr. William E. Clark, 
Mr. Floyd Clarkson, 
Mr. A. T. Clearwater, 
Mr. J. H. V. Cockcroft, 
Mr. Edward S. Dakin, 
Mr. Edgar de Peyster, 
Mr. Henry de Peyster, 
Mr. Frederick W. Devoe, 
Mr. George G. DeWitt, Jr., 
Mr. E. N. Dickerson, Jr., 
Mr. Menzo Diefendorf, 
Mr. Lawrence Drake, 
Mr. Simeon J. Drake, 
Mr. Henry Dudley, 



members of the Society : 

Rev. William R. Duryee, 
Mr. J. B. Dutcher, 
Mr. William H. Falconer, 
Mr. James W. Fellows, 
Mr. William H. Field, 
Mr. Hamilton Fish, Jr., 
Mr. John Fitch, 
Mr. Charles H. Ford, 
Mr. Edward L. Gaul, 
John W. Greene, M. D., 
Mr. Jacob L. Halsey, 
Mr. William G. Hamilton, 
Mr. Edward H. Harriman, 
Mr. William M. Harriman, 
Mr. A. W. Haviland, 
Mr. William T. Innes, 
Mr. John B. Ireland, 
William H. Jackson, M. D., 
Mr. Lyman A. Jacobus, 
Mr. Bradish Johnson, Jr., 
Mr. Walter R. T. Jones, 
Mr. Eugene M. Keteltas, 
Mr. Henry Keteltas, 
Mr. Edward King, 
Mr. Robert Lane, 
Mr. Edward V. Z. Lane, 
Mr. Frank T. L. Lane, 
Mr. P. Van Zandt Lane, 
Mr. Smith E. Lane, 
Mr. Isaac Lawrence, 



8 



Mr. Edward M. Le Moyne, 
Mr. William T. Lloyd, 
Mr. Joseph B. Lockwood, 

Mr. R. P. LOUNSBERY, 

Mr. George H. McLean, 
Mr. John Murray Mitchell, 
Mr. George F. Nelson, 
Mr. Henry A. Oakley, 
Mr. J. Seaver Page, 
Mr. Schuyler L. Parsons, 
Mr. Archibald M. Pentz, 
Mr. Charles E. Pell, 
Mr. George H. Pell, 
Mr. Edmund Penfold, 
Mr. Wm. Hall Penfold, 
Mr. R. N. Perlee, 
Mr. John B. Pine, 
Mr. Gilbert M. Plympton, 
Mr. M. Taylor Pyne, 
Mr. Henry Remsen, 
Mr. William Remsen, 
Mr. John L. Riker, 
Mr. William J. Riker, 
Mr. Walter Rutherfurd, 
Mr. Edward R. Satterlee, 
Mr. George B. Satterlee, 
Mr. Samuel K. Satterlee, 
Mr. G. S. Schermerhorn, Jr., 
Mr. E. E. Schermerhorn, 
Mr. Edward H. Schell, 
Mr. Francis Schell, 



Mr. Robert Schell, 
Mr. Edgar S. Schieffelin, 
Mr. George R. Schieffelin, 
Mr. Spencer D. Schuyler, 
Mr. George H. Scott, 
Mr. Clarence A. Seward, 
Mr. Henry L. Slote, 
Charles D. Smith, M. D., 
Gouverneur M. Smith, 

M. D., 
Mr. L. Bayard Smith, 
Mr. S. Franklin Stanton, 
Mr. W. E. Dodge Stokes, 
Mr. Thomas Storm, 
Mr. Walton W. Storm, 
Mr. James A. Striker, 
Mr. Charles C. Suffern, 
Mr. Satterlee Swartwout, 
Mr. Edward N. Tailer, 
Mr. William H. Tailer, 
Mr. George W. Talbot, 
Mr. Richmond Talbot, 
Mr. T. DeWitt Thompson, 
Mr. Lawrence Turnure, 
Mr. Eugene Underbill, 
Mr. Abraham B. Valentine, 
Mr. Wm. J. Van Arsdale, 
Mr. Geo. W. Van Derlip, 
Mr. A. Ernest Vanderpoel, 
Mr. Vedder Van Dyck, 
Hon. Geo. M. Van Hoesen, 



Mr. David Van Nostrand, 
Mr. KiLiAN VanRensselaer, 
Mr. Abraham Van Sant- 

VOORD, 

Mr. Alfred Van Sant- 

VOORD, 

Mr. Cornelius Van Sant- 

VOORD, 

Mr. George W. Van Slyck, 
Mr. Abraham V. W. Van 

Vechten, 
Gen. Stewart Van Vliet, 
Mr. Ames Van Wart, 
Mr. Maus R. Vedder, 
Mr. J. D. Vermilye, 
Mr. T. E. Vermilye, Jr., 



Gen. Egbert L. Viele, 
Mr. Herman K. Viele, 
Mr. Geo. Augustus Vroom, 
Mr. C. C. Wasson, 
Mr. Hamilton F. Webster, 
Robert F. Weir, M. D., 
Mr. C. Yates Wemple, 
Mn Henry S. Wemple, 
Mr. J. Russ Wemple, 
Mr. David B. Williamson, 
Mr. D. D. Williamson, 
Mr. John D. Wilson, 
Mr. Charles Wisner, 
Mr. William H. Wisner, 
Mr. Edward I. Woolsey. 



At the conclusion of the dinner the Weather-cock 
of the Stadt-Heuyse was borne into the room, pre- 
ceded by the Society's Trumpeter, and escorted by the 
Committee, and was placed upon the President's table. 

The song, " Sancte Claus goed heylig Man ! " was 
then sung by the Glee Club. 

The President, thereupon, arose in his place, and 
delivered the following address : 




ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT. 




Gentlemen of the St. Nicholas Society : 

N Saturday evening, February 28, 
1835, at the Washington Hotel, in 
this city, the Constitution of the St. 
Nicholas Society of the City of New- 
York was adopted and the first election of officers 
held. To-night we meet to commemorate our 
Fiftieth Anniversary. 

I take pleasure in stating that our Society is in 
a flourishing condition. There are no vacancies 
in its membership. It has a permanent fund of 
over $30,000 well invested. Its income is suffi- 
cient to meet all its needs, and, when called 
upon, to help such of its members as may require 
assistance. For these happy results we rejoice 
together this evening. 



II 

Of the twenty-five gentlemen who have occu- 
pied the honorable position of President, but ten 
are living, and of these, eight are now present. 
Of those who were members of the Society in 
1835, eight are now living and two are with us 
on this occasion. The speakers whom we are to 
have the pleasure of hearing will tell us of the 
formation of the Society, and of its history 
through the past fifty years. 

We had expected to have with us our first 
Secretary, the Hon. Hamilton Fish ; but a severe 
and protracted illness deprives us of that pleas- 
ure. He drafted our Constitution and presented 
it at the formation of the Society, fifty years 
ago to-night. Since that date he has filled 
the highest positions of honor and trust. He 
has been successively Governor of our State, 
United States Senator, and Secretary of State in 
the Cabinet of General Grant ; but to-night it is 
our duty to believe that the most distinguished 
of all his honors was the Presidency of the St. 
Nicholas Society. 

What an eventful half-century it has been to 
this city ! Many now with us recall its rapid 
growth, and can remember when the very spot on 
which we are dining was a farm in the country, 
far removed from the residences and business 
center. I think I may safely say, without ego- 
tism, — and we all know that the Dutch are a 



12 



modest race and speak only the truth, — that 
much of the growth and development of our city 
is due to the earnest and honest purpose of our 
Dutch ancestors, in laying the broad foundations 
they did. Yet how amazed would they be could 
they step on the scene to-day ! 

As perpetual reminders of our forefathers and 
their customs, the cocked hat, of the style worn 
on State occasions by Governor Peter Stuyvesant, 
is still an emblem of authority; our Trumpeter, 
as in olden days, leads to the banquet hall ; the 
Weather-cock presented by Washington Irving is 
from the first Government House ; the pipes, bear- 
ing the image of the ancient Knickerbocker, are 
now, as then, the helps to good fellowship and 
wise reflection ; our badge bears the old City 
arms, and for our flag those arms are borne upon 
the tricolor of the Dutch Republic. 

Amonof the names of those who have been 
members of this Society, will be found many who 
have been foremost in promoting the best interests 
of this city, and while, as all the sons of St. Nich- 
olas should do, they have enjoyed the good things 
of this life, they have not neglected their duties as 
citizens and Christians. 

Let us, therefore, in our rejoicings, recall, 
with love and tenderness, the memory of those 
who have passed from among us. Let this 
evening be remembered as a bright spot in our 



13 

existence, and let us go on with renewed and 
earnest effort, in our next half-century, toward 
accomplishing the objects for which the St. Nich- 
olas Society was founded. 



At the conclusion of his address, the President 
expressed the regret of the Society at the absence 
of the Hon. Hamilton Fish, its first Secretary, and 
one of its original members, and stated that Mr. 
Fish had written a letter for the occasion, which 
would be read by Mr. Stuyvesant Fish, the fourth 
Vice-President of the Society. 

Mr. Stuyvesant Fish then read the following 
letter : 

LETTER FROM THE HON. HAMILTON FISH. 

251 East Seventeenth Street, 

February 27, '85. 
John B. Pine, Esq., Secretary. 

Dear Sir: I have delayed until this late day 
an answer to the invitation of the St. Nicholas 
Society to their Semi- Centennial Anniversary 
Dinner in the hope that I might be able to attend, 
but the persistence of an illness which has confined 
me to my house for some weeks past leaves me 
no hope of being able to participate in the festivi- 
ties and enjoyment of the occasion. 



14 

Having been one of five with whom originated 
the idea of organizing the Society, and who carried 
the idea into practical success, and being one of the 
very few survivors of those who attended the first 
meetings in "Washington Hall," it would have 
been a very great pleasure to me to witness, in my 
old age, the strength and vigor of the Society, at 
whose birth, fifty years ago, I was present, and 
whose infant utterances and early movements for 
many years I faithfully recorded. 

Long may it prosper ! 

With friendly and brotherly wishes toward each 
and all of its members, 

I am very sincerely yours, 

Hamilton Fish. 



The song, " The Rolling Zuyder Zee," was then 
sung by the Glee Club. 

The President then introduced Dr. Vermilye, 
as follows : 

We have with us our Senior Chaplain, the Rev. 
Dr. Vermilye, who has been a member of this 
Society for forty- four years, and its Chaplain for 
forty years, and to-day he is celebrating his eighty- 
second birthday. 




ADDRESS BY THE REV. DR. VERMILYE. 




Mr. President, and Members 

of the St. Nicholas Society : 

)T is impossible for mere human nature, 
such as mine, not to feel a throb of the 
greatest delight to think that the St. 
Nicholas Society has gotten up such an 
entertainment as this upon my birthday. I know 
that the gentlemen have said, out of delicacy to 
my own feelings undoubtedly, that the intention 
is to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the St. 
Nicholas Society. Well, sir, the St. Nicholas 
Society to-day is fifty years old, and, I make a 
clean breast of it, so am I ! 

Mr. President, it is just about forty-four years 
since I was introduced into this Society by being 
made a Chaplain, and I recollect that the meet- 



i6 

ings at that time were held down at the City Hotel, 
on Broadway, a block above Trinity Church. 
Mr. Julian Verplanck was then the President of 
the Society; in body and mind a fine type and 
personification of a true Dutchman. The Society 
from that time, and before that, in fact, has been 
distinguished by the presidency of men who would 
do honor to any association in this city, or any- 
where else. They have been men signalized in 
the ordinary walks of life, who have brought fine 
reputations to the Society, and the Society has 
rightly and justly honored them. I see several 
of them present this evening, much to my sincere 
gratification. Bishop Onderdonk was then the 
Senior Chaplain ; and allow me to say, with some 
little degree of pride, that I find in looking over 
the annals that the Chaplains have been the sub- 
stantial part of the Society ; for, they have held 
on while the other officers have fluctuated from 
year to year. After Bishop Onderdonk, Dr. Berrian 
was elected Chaplain, though I do not recall hav- 
ing seen him present on any of these occasions. 
He was followed by the Rev. Mr. Johnson, a very 
amiable and admirable man, who, however, did 
not continue long. 

Dr. Noah Hunt Schenck was his successor ; ** a 
man formed in the very prodigality of nature " — 
a man whose personal appearance always attracted 
attention, being of fine, majestic proportions. 



17 

whose address at all times was gentle and court- 
eous to all classes of men ; whose countenance 
was beaming continually with intelligence, good 
nature and humor, just like beautiful sunbeams 
that play around the mountain top. Dr. Schenck 
was possessed of fine literary acquirements, with- 
out any tincture of pedantry; open-hearted and 
generous, without pretension, and despising every- 
thing like cant; a man who carried himself 
through the various spheres in which he was 
called to act, with dignity, with affection, with 
earnestness ; and who seemed by his example, as 
well as his precept, to allure to brighter worlds 
and lead the way. In this place, and in all others 
which Dr. Schenck was called upon to occupy, his 
genial, kindly, welcome presence will never be for- 
gotten ; and I may say, without any disparage- 
ment to those who remain behind, hard will it be 
to fill fully the place of Dr. Noah Hunt Schenck. 
Mr. President, I have often heard the inquiry 
made, "What is the object, the raison d'etre, of 
the St. Nicholas Society?" Well, some would 
suppose that it is like all other institutions of 
the same kind — the main object in view being, 
of course, the annual dinner at Delmonico's. But 
the final cause of the St. Nicholas Society cer- 
tainly is not to eat a fine dinner ; this is not the 
end of our institution, and I should be very sorry 
that any one could imagine so. The higher ob- 



ject of the Society undoubtedly is to cultivate 
those amenities of life which are the growth of 
our intercourse with our fellow-men, with our 
fellow-citizens — we who have been boys together. 
I have often met some of my old school- 
friends on these occasions. And whilst we have 
had these meetings very pleasant incidents have 
occurred. I recollect at one time Washington 
Irving was sitting as a guest at the officers' table, 
and in the course of the evening there was a cry, 
"Irving, Irving!" I well recall Irving, twitch- 
ing about nervously, a strange, mystical smile 
covering his face ; but he still kept his seat. The 
call went on, "Irving, Irving!" and finally Irving 
arose half up — " Mr. President and gentlemen," 
said he, "I am sure I am very much obliged to you 
for this kindly reception, but, Mr. President, you 
know very well I cannot make a speech " ; and 
one of the most fluent and classical of our 
writers sat down. The same thing was charac- 
teristic of Addison and Cowper ; the latter was 
obliged to give up his clerkship in the court, as he 
was too shy to read aloud the documents that 
came before him. I am sure that my friend on 
my left (Mr. Depew) will agree with me, that it 
is miserable to be shy. 

Ogden Hoffman also filled the office of Presi- 
dent. He was known as Hoffman the "golden- 
mouthed," whose voice was perfect music, and 



19 

who seemed to have an endless flow of the 
finest language. On one occasion he arose in the 
midst of the Society and made a remark or two, 
and was about to sit down, but they called all 
around, " Go on, Go on." " Oh yes," said Hoff- 
man, "it is very easy to say, 'Go on,' but what 
shall I go on about?" — a most awful question for 
an extemporaneous speaker. My friend on my 
left will again agree with me that it is always an 
awful thing not to know what to go on about. 
But I can say that I never knew him at fault. 

During his Presidency a Dutch ship, with a 
Dutch prince on board, came into the harbor, and 
this Society sent an invitation to him. Hoffman 
presided, and Webster sat on his right hand. 
Well do I recollect Hoffman, in the course of the 
evening, introducing Webster, and speaking of 
him as the Kohinoor of our great men and orators. 
Webster sat there, and never shall I forget his 
turning those two eyes of his, like two orbs, upon 
the speaker, seeming to pour out admiration upon 
him who thus brought up his name, while Hoffman 
wrought out his figures of speech to perfection. 

I recollect when Mr. Benson was the President 
of the Society, that a gentleman, a guest of our 
body, sat beside him, and said to him in the course 
of the evening, " Mr. Benson, I find that nearly 
all people have some peculiar dish which is their 
national dish. What is the national dish of the 



20 



Dutch? " — he supposing, no doubt, that they lived 
on sauer-kraut, cold-slaugh, and dough-nuts. Mr. 
Benson made a neat reply, saying, " Sir, the na- 
tional and peculiar dish of the Dutch is every 
other good dish of every other people." 

Mr. President, I might go on with these inci- 
dents until you would really believe me to be more 
than fifty years old. But I wish to make one 
further remark. The object of the St. Nicholas 
Society, even above this social, kindly intercourse, 
and these meetings of the brotherhood, is to lay 
fresh immortelles upon the tombs of our fathers ; 
to bring to mind again the men who founded 
our city, and the land which gave them birth, with 
all the grandeur and glory of their history, and 
thus to impregnate our own minds with the great 
thoughts and sentiments which actuated them, and 
under the influence of which this great empire 
was founded. Three hundred years — not more 
than three hundred years — ago, a shallop entered 
the harbor of New- York, and twelve men there- 
from stood upon this broad American continent. 
At that time it was a vast wilderness, the solitude 
being only awakened by the hoot of the owl, by 
the roar of savage beasts, and the cry of more 
savage men. And now look at what has been 
accomplished in the course of three hundred years. 
You see this wilderness converted into a grand 
field for civilized man, a spirit of intercourse 



21 



Spreading from ocean to ocean. And, sir, I think 
that New- York, and this Society, which is pe- 
culiarly a New- York Society, should realize that 
this city is the great gate for the United States and 
the whole continent of North America. There 
are, to be sure, wickets at other points ; but this is 
the great gate of travel to and from Europe, and 
anything that interferes with the prosperity of 
the city of New- York should be a matter of deep 
solicitude to all our citizens. If there be any 
scheme by which the traffic from the western 
part of our continent is to be diverted from 
the city of New- York, I say the citizens should 
resolutely stand up in opposition to it. If / 

the Pacific coast is to be drained in any other 
direction, and our railroads, and all the avenues 
by which traffic is carried to and from New- York, 
be thus injured and perhaps broken down, the 
citizens of New-York should look well to it. The 
time, in my judgment, will not have come until the 
continent is so well stocked with people, and so 
superabundant in its resources, that there may be 
need for other openings for our traffic. 

But it is not merely in this material point of 
view that New-York stands first through the 
character of its original inhabitants, and from the 
fact that they laid the granite foundations of this 
government, whatever others may have done for 
the superstructure; it is likewise all-important 



22 



that we should realize the moral and religious in- 
fluences which go forth from this great community, 
spreading over our whole country, and what those 
influences are to be in the future, not only in the 
United States, but for the civilization and freedom 
of the whole world. We live at a time when 
there is a great change going on in all depart- 
ments of civil and political life, and projects are 
being formed to overthrow the principles which 
lie at the very basis of civilization. The sap- 
pers and miners of Satan are engaged in 
undermining the very foundations of society, 
that domestic love, social life, and civil and politi- 
cal welfare may be overthrown and perfectly de- 
stroyed. And what then is to come to us and to 
our posterity when they have accomplished their 
fiendish purposes? Let me ask: Is the city of 
New-York, the United States of America, to be 
made the vantage-ground from which they may 
play their infernal engines ? Are we to submit 
that these influences shall go forth from us which 
shall be constantly jeopardizing the peace and 
prosperity of the United States and of the world ? 
Shall we look on with indifference while the law 
should be invoked and enforced to put down those 
villainous schemes ? When I see these men 
eliminated from our borders, when they shall be 
prohibited from landing here and carrying out 
their abominable schemes, then can we claim that 



23 

our country is the home of civilization and the 
source from which proceed only blessings to all 
the people of the world; then shall we justly 
say that our motto is "Onward and upward"; 
then shall it be written truly, "Excelsior." 




The President then read the following letters 
4 




LETTER FROM THE MINISTER OF THE NETHERLANDS. 

Mr. de Weckherlin, Minister of the Nether- 
lands, has the honor of acknowledging receipt of 
the kind invitation to the Semi-Centennial Anni- 
versary Dinner of the St. Nicholas Society of the 
City of New- York on the 28th instant, — and 
regrets to state that previous engagements prevent 
him from being present at the said celebration. 

Washington, D. C, February 20, 1885. 

LETTER FROM MR. WILLIAM H. BOGERT. 

Aurora on Cayuga Lake, 

February 24, 1885. 
My dear Mr. Secretary : 

I am honoured in the invitation, communicated 
through yourself, to attend the Semi-Centennial 
Celebration of St. Nicholas Society on the even- 



25 

ing of the 28th inst. For half the number of 
years attained by the Society I have been court- 
eously and kindly welcomed as a guest at their 
Annual Festival. I can have no other than grate- 
ful associations with them. The St. Nicholas 
Society is another name for The Founders of 
the City of New- York. It has fully established 
itself, — I cannot quite see why it should write its 
date of origin as of 1835, when indeed the Society 
in its brotherhood established itself on Man-ha- 
da Island so soon after 1609. The Hollanders 
that faced the wilderness and the savage frater- 
nised. It is an unbroken chain. 

I observe that Mr. Washington Irving's por- 
trait graces our card of invitation. Our character 
survived his humorous historical romance. The 
feigned name of his historian, Knickerbocker, 
has become the synonym of social distinction. 

The Society will meet on Saturday, in the 
plenitude of prosperity. The language, the 
names, the associations of the centuries, give 
dignity to your gathering. Ours is a history 
whose past grasped a struggle for freedom and 
whose present is its enjoyment. 

Regretting that I must deny myself the pleas- 
ure of being with you, 

I remain, my dear Mr. Pine, 

Respectfully your friend, 

William H. Bogert. 



26 

The President then said : 

The weather-cock which we all see on the 
opposite side of the room has, within a few days, 
been presented to the Society, and I call upon 
Mr. Mills, our Second Vice-President, through 
whom it was given, to read the correspondence. 

Mr. John C. Mills replied as follows : 

I have the following letter from Mr. Welch, late 
proprietor of the St. Nicholas Hotel : 

LETTER FROM MR. URIAH WELCH. 

New American, Richfield Springs, 

February i8th. 
John C. Mills, Esq. : 

Dear Sir : As the St. Nicholas Hotel no 
longer exists, it seems to me proper to send to the 
Society which took such an interest in laying the 
corner-stone, its emblem of good cheer, — the old 
Weather-cock, — so long a prominent object on 
Broadway. 

Leaving the particular manner of placing it in 
the custody of the St. Nicholas Society to your- 
self, I remain. 

Very truly yours, 

Uriah Welch. 

In reply to Mr. Welch's communication I said 
to him, that I would deem it an honor to make 
the presentation, and I felt confident that the 



27 

Society would highly value the gift. I also took 
the liberty of saying — perhaps drawing largely 
on the imagination — that we would soon have a 
home of our own, and that on the top of its flag- 
staff the old weather-cock might once more bask 
in the sunshine and battle with the storm. I fear, 
however, that for many years to come he will 
repose, with other relics of the Society, in the 
vault under Mr. Treasurer Schell's Savings Bank. 
Nevertheless, I have the honor, on behalf of Mr. 
Welch, to present you with the weather-cock. 

It was then moved and seconded, that a vote 
of thanks be tendered to Mr. Welch, and the mo- 
tion was carried with much applause. 




The President then introduced Mr. Depew. 




ADDRESS BY THE HON. CHAUNCEY M. DEPEW. 




Mr. President and Gentlemen : 

TRUST we will not have many recur- 
rences of Semi-Centennials, because they 
seem to lead to a plenitude of weather- 
cocks, and the staid and consistent char- 
acteristics of our Society do not encourage too 
many emblems of that nature. 

I do not stand here to-night, as did my friend 
Dr. Vermilye, to recall from personal recollections 
the first landing of the first Dutchman in New- 
York, nor am I one of the several gentlemen on 
this platform who, in middle life, inaugurated this 
Society fifty years ago, and are still in a state of 
good preservation. The Committee have arranged 

with commendable discretion, and with that sense 

38 



29 

of propriety which characterizes the work of all 
our committees, a memorial which recalls and dis- 
tinguishes in a peculiar way the thoughts and 
aspirations of the members present at the first 
meeting of this Society. The day after that first 
and memorable gathering, the gentlemen present 
on that night gave an order to the proprietors of 
the Gobelin Tapestries to have woven in wonderful 
and enduring pictures, the portraits of those sons 
who were expected to succeed the fathers who 
founded this organization ; and in the rosy cherubs 
playing amidst the tropical foliage of the tapestries 
which adorn the galleries, and which were bor- 
rowed from Sypher, you will find correct repre- 
sentations of the Beekmans, the Fishes, the de 
Peysters, the Livingstons, the Millses, and the rest 
of them, as they appeared at that early day. The 
artist, being a Frenchman, supposed that perpet- 
ual summer reigned in these latitudes. But, gen- 
tlemen, we meet here to-night not to be facetious, 
and there falls upon me the duty of delivering the 
historical address, which in its character is neces- 
sarily serious. We all of us, for fifty years, have 
been having a good time, — that is, all those who 
are fifty years old; I am not, — and the object of 
our gathering on all festive occasions has been to 
have a good time. A Scotchman cannot thor- 
oughly enjoy himself, for he is continually plunged 
in dejection and gloom in the effort to grasp the 



30 

jokes which he don't understand ; and the English 
and the French recall with sorrow the land from 
which they fled. But these, our festive occasions, 
are free from griefs, and are marked by no jeal- 
ousies or strifes. We meet as becomes those who 
have life to enjoy, and know how to enjoy it, and 
we do it on these and all other occasions, where 
our circumstances will permit. Our fund of thirty 
thousand dollars has accumulated from the fact 
that the Committee appointed by the Society to 
seek out the objects who should be the recipients 
of its assistance, have never been able to discover 
one worthy of its charity within the limits of their 
view. He was always just beyond. But for once 
in fifty years, you will pardon me if I am serious. 
Gentlemen who are present representing other 
nationalities and societies will forgive us, if once 
in half a century we lay aside our characteristic 
modesty, and emulate their frequent examples by 
speaking of ourselves. It is emphatically our 
night and our Hall. We are met to recall the 
purposes and history of the Saint Nicholas Soci- 
ety, to commemorate the object for which it was 
organized, and the excellence, the nobleness, and 
the virtue of the ancestry from whom we sprang. 
In the ordinary life of a nation or a munici- 
pality, fifty years have been but a day. The 
original conditions of our American existence have 
destroyed the value of time as an element of 



31 

progress and development. Cities whose founders 
are still living rival in population and prosperity 
the oldest and most successful capitals. This 
Society was organized to "collect and preserve 
information respecting the history, settlement, and 
manners of New York, and to promote social 
intercourse among its native citizens." Its first 
half-century, though devoid of incident to itself, 
covers a period of municipal growth unparalleled 
in history. For more than a hundred years in dif- 
ferent forms the descendants of the early inhabit- 
ants have sought to preserve the traditions of the 
fathers. " Rivington's Gazetteer" reports a cele- 
bration of the Sons of St. Nicholas at Waldron's 
tavern, a road house on the Brooklyn side, in 
1 763 ; and again in 1 784 that old chronicle records 
that the anniversary of St. Nicholas was cele- 
brated "by the descendants of the ancient Dutch 
families." Doubtless each recurring birthday of 
our patron saint has for over two hundred years 
received appropriate recognition in festival and 
speech. 

But it was not until fifty years ago to-night, 
that, with Constitution and definite purposes, a 
society was formed to perpetuate the memories of 
old New York and the virtues of its founders. 
Washington Irving walked into the assembly 
carrying the gilded rooster which had served as 
a weather-vane upon the old stadt buys, or city 
5 



32 

hall, from the first settlement of the city, until 
the needs of a larger population required a new- 
structure. He was so overcome with fright that 
he forgot the little speech he had prepared and 
broke down during the first sentence. But this 
ancient bird, built in Holland after an old model, 
looking down for a century upon the city's daily 
life, its steady growth, the gathering of patriots, 
the conventions and congresses which preceded 
and formulated the republic, and now the silent 
Mentor at our meetings, speaks more eloquently 
than any records or musty documents of the 
sources of our strength. It saw the land from 
which we sprang. It marked the storm signals for 
the early mariner sailing in and out our harbor, and 
under its weather eye political clouds burst first 
in protest and then in arms, to be followed by the 
pure atmosphere and clear sunlight of liberty. 

Our Society may properly trace its origin to 
1609, when our Dutch ancestors first established 
on Manhattan Island their colony. The Puritan 
proves his claim to have originated and inspired 
all that makes our country free, intelligent, and 
great, by the repetition of the history, principles, 
and characteristics of his forefathers. It is often 
better for fame to have eminent historians than to 
have enacted history. The judgment of mankind 
upon nations and peoples of the past is never 
formed from original sources, but made up from 



33 

the accepted picture of the most popular artist. 
While the Pilgrim fully merits most of the praise, 
which has crystallized into settled opinion, it has 
been his wonderful fortune to have the highest 
genius, eloquence, thought, and philosophical 
acumen devoted to throwing about himself, his 
mission, his words and creations, now as they 
assert in course of partial realization in our insti- 
tutions and progress, a meaning, a self-denial, 
and prophetic construction for humanity, of which 
Brewster and Carver and Captain John Smith 
never dreamed. 

The Dutch settlers, on the other hand, by the 
magic pen of the father of American literature, 
became the victims of a caricature which captivated 
the fancy of the world, and made the most potent 
factors in the founding and development of the 
freedom and prosperity of our country, the ac- 
cepted subjects of good-natured ridicule and mer- 
riment. Two generations have been laughing at 
a marionette, whose antics have concealed the 
most important figure in the preservation of civil 
and religious liberty. 

Pliny says of this indomitable people, that though 
dwelling in marshes and subsisting on fish, they 
resolutely refused to become absorbed into and 
enjoy the benefits of the great Roman empire. 
Their conquests were beneficent victories over 
nature, and not bloody confiscations of subject 



34 

peoples. They won their country from the ocean, 
and by their dykes set bounds to the waters. 
They have pumped out the Haarlem Sea and the 
Zuyder Zee, and transformed their depths into 
fruitful soil. They alone for a thousand years have 
enforced upon Neptune, " Hitherto shalt thou 
come and no farther, and here shall thy proud 
waves be stayed." Though their country is only 
one-fourth the area of the State of New York, 
they fought for sixty-eight years to secure their 
independence against the power of Spain, then 
the strongest nation in Europe. And they won, 
because with them was liberty of conscience, and 
of the individual, and universal education ; while 
the Spanish despotism crushed in dungeons, and 
punished with torture and the stake, enlighten- 
ment, religious liberty, and opinion. When the 
rest of Europe was in intellectual darkness, Hol- 
land had her universities, and a system of general 
education upon which our common schools are 
founded. While learning languished elsewhere, 
Grotius promulgated a system of international 
law, Erasmus taught Greek to Oxford, Zacharias 
Janssens invented the telescope and the micro- 
scope, whose revelations created modern science, 
and Lawrence Koster discovered the art of 
printing. When Koster made a Bible for five 
crowns, which before him had cost the ransom of 
a prince, the American republic first became 



35 

possible. For a time free thought was impossible 
in England, or upon the Continent, and Holland 
became the bulwark, the refuge, and salvation of 
humanity. The spirit of her sons was illustrated 
at the siege of Leyden. There was but little food, 
and that the vilest offal ; starvation and pestilence 
afflicted the inhabitants ; but when the Spaniard 
proposed surrender and generous terms, with sub- 
mission to king and creed, "No," they replied, 
" we will eat our left arms and fight with our right, 
and set fire to our houses, and die in the flames, 
before we will be slaves." When, for their heroic 
defense, they were asked what should be their 
indemnity and reward, they answered, " Give us a 
national university." They gave to England that 
Bill of Rights which is the basis of Puritan liberty, 
and to us our form of government. In 1579 the 
seven provinces of the Netherlands formed a 
republic at Utrecht, and adopted for their motto, 
"Unity makes might"; and in 1581 they promul- 
gated their declaration of independence in these 
memorable words: "The people are not made for 
the prince, but the prince for the people, who 
always have the right to depose him if he should 
oppress them." This grand formula of liberty the 
Dutch asserted and maintained with their swords, 
a hundred years before the English declaration of 
rights, and two hundred years before the Ameri- 
can declaration of independence, and at a time 



36 

when the beHef was universal that kings were 
gods anointed, and could do no wrong. Here 
was the inspiration of Cromwell, Milton, and of 
Hampden, of Washington, Hamilton, Jefferson, 
and Adams. 

This was the people who in 1609 settled upon 
Manhattan Island, and founded our city and State. 
They bought twenty-two thousand acres from the 
Indians for sixty guilders, and upon an honest title 
founded their city. They had circled the globe 
with their colonies ; with their three thousand 
ships and a hundred thousand sailors they were 
the chief of maritime powers, and controlled the 
commerce of the world ; but they had no country 
save that submerged land, where Puritan and 
Huguenot, Catholic, Protestant, and Jew, have 
found hospitable and tolerant asylum. Their 
coming was attended by no loud professions of 
their virtue or their mission, but their object was 
to extend the trade of Holland, and by increasing 
the wealth and opportunities of her people to add 
to their happiness ; but the things above all others 
which they guarded and maintained were the 
common school and religious liberty. The first 
Dutch governor brought with him a dominie and 
a schoolmaster, each the first of his class on this 
continent, and Everardus Bogardus, the preacher, 
and Adam Roolandson, the teacher, were the 
pioneers of our American civilization. In this free 



37 

and tolerant atmosphere the witchcraft superstition 
never found lodgment. The unfortunate victims 
fleeing to New-York for their lives from New 
England were warmly welcomed, and only by 
threat of war did Governor Stuyvesant rescue his 
sister-in-law, Judith Varlet, from the clutches of 
the fierce sectaries at Hartford, who had determined 
to burn her as a witch, because the Connecticut 
swains had lost hearts and heads for the Dutch 
beauty, who safely returned, married a Dutchman, 
and became the ancestress of some of the noblest 
people in our State. While the Puritan colonies 
were in their wild terror imprisoning and executing 
the suspected, and every family was at the mercy 
of the accuser, the Dutch and Huguenot ministers 
of New Amsterdam unanimously resolved that 
"the apparition of a person afflicting another is 
very insufficient proof of a witch, and that a good 
name obtained by a good life should not be lost 
by mere spiritual accusation." Baptists, and the 
dissenters of every creed, fleeing from Massa- 
chusetts, were given hom.es and lands, the deeds 
declaring that they should "enjoy in peace the 
free exercise of their religion." The only effort to 
curb heresy which was affecting the prosperity of 
the Dutch church was made by Peter Stuyvesant. 
But the sturdy old governor received from the 
home government so sharp a reprimand, that 
neither by him nor any man has the right of 



38 

freedom of worship and opinion ever been ques- 
tioned in New- York. In words which should be 
put upon our public buildings in letters of gold 
they wrote: "The consciences of men ought to be 
free and unshackled. Such have been the maxims 
of prudence and toleration by which the magis- 
trates of this city, Amsterdam, have been governed; 
and the consequences have been that the oppressed 
and persecuted from every country have found 
among us asylum from distress. Follow in the 
same footsteps and you will be blessed." 

When the English conquered New-York in 
1664, the city had about a thousand inhabitants, 
and three hundred houses ; but there were three 
public, one Latin, and twenty private schools. 
The accession of William of Orange to the English 
throne brought here about five thousand more 
Dutch, and with the increase of the means of 
education the society of New- York was the most 
learned and cultured in the country. Both men 
and women were familiar with the classics and 
the modern languages. The English paid little 
attention to education, and it continued under 
Dutch auspices until ten years after the Revolu- 
tionary war. The formation of the Free School 
Society in 18 10 was a remarkable example of the 
Dutch faith in universal education. For fifty 
years almost unaided it furnished the means for 
popular learning, and only surrendered its great 



39 

and magnificently administered trust when the 
state was prepared to undertake this its most im- 
portant duty. 

Upon this broad basis of civil and religious lib- 
erty, of toleration and education, was formed the 
metropolis of the New World. Here, nearly a 
hundred years before the Boston Tea Party, Jacob 
Leisler began the battle of colonial rights. Here, 
forty years before the declaration of independence, 
the trial of John Zenger established the freedom 
of the press upon principles which have since been 
incorporated in every State in the Union. Eleven 
years before the battle of Lexington, the Assem- 
bly of New- York protested against the Stamp 
Act, and organized the colonies for resistance to 
British aggression, and the Stamp Act Congress, 
sitting in this city, first boldly proclaimed that 
taxation without representation is tyranny, and 
paved the way to American independence. When 
the last British soldier had embarked at the Battery, 
those two most prominent citizens of New-York, 
Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, began the 
publication of the Federalist, which out of the 
chaos of confederation organized a constitutional 
republic. The government of the United States 
which began life in this city, with the inauguration 
of Washington in Wall Street, reflected in every 
part the influences of Dutch examples. Its federal 
form, its toleration of creeds, its hospitable in- 
6 



40 

vitation to the oppressed of all lands, its liberal 
views on trade and commerce, its official terms 
and titles, came from the home of the first settlers 
in New- York. They proclaimed no mission for 
themselves or mankind, but without boasting, with 
modesty, industry, and inflexible principle, they 
so builded their part of our great temple of liberty 
as to deserve the undying affection and reverence 
of their descendants, and the respect and gratitude 
of the world. This city and State which they 
founded, and in which, in their spirit, the peoples 
of every nation and of every faith enjoy equal 
privileges and freedom, with their sons, are their 
monuments. When William of Orange received 
the crown of England in the old hall of West- 
minst;er, and the charters of English liberty were 
read to him, with his hand on his sword he swore, 
" I will maintain." To-night we take up anew 
the glories, the traditions, and the lessons of old 
New- York, with the solemn oath, "We will main- 
tain." 





MOTION OF THANKS. 



At the conclusion of Mr. Depew's address, Mr. 
Augustus R. Macdonough rose and said : 

Mr. President, while those eloquent accents 
are yet ringing in our ears, as they have deeply 
thrilled all our hearts, it seems only fitting that 
this Society should express its appreciation of the 
service done us by our Committee in arranging 
this evening's brilliant entertainment. 

I therefore move that the thanks of the St. Nich- 
olas Society be offered to our orators, and to the 
Managing Committee. And in making this mo- 
tion, Mr. President, I am not merely stirred by 
the emotion of the moment, but I speak with the 
deep conviction that our orators have nobly dem- 
onstrated and illustrated that truth known to all 
of us, and which should be better known to all 



41 



42 

others ; and that is, that in the progress of this 
great city, in the magnificent advance which she 
has made, and is still making, in prosperity, in 
intelligence, in greatness, as it has always been 
in the past, so will it always be in the future, that 
in that grand march the Dutchman keeps the van. 

The Hon. Abraham R. Lawrence seconded the 
motion, and moved that the Record of the Anni- 
versary be printed, which amendment was ac- 
cepted, and the resolution being put to vote, was 
adopted unanimously. 

The President then declared the meeting 
adjourned, and the Anniversary was concluded 
by the singing of " Auld Lang Syne." 





At a stated meeting of the St. Nicholas Society, 
held on the 5th of March, 1885, the printing of 
the Record of the Society's Semi-Centennial An- 
niversary was referred, with power, to the follow- 
ing Committee : 

Charles A. Schermerhorn, Esq., Secretary of 
the Society; John B. Pine, Esq., Secretary of the 
Semi-Centennial Committee. 




^ -f <^^ I § V 










